Digital signages have many uses, like running promotional ads, interacting with the audience through exciting contests, and showcasing product galleries. Begin by identifying the intent behind setting up signage. Most businesses prefer a blend of promotional and interactive content to keep the customers engaged. Here are some ideas you can implement straight up:

• Running time-sensitive ads during crowded hours.
  The time of the day also plays a crucial role in selecting the content type. For instance, time-sensitive ads remain suitable during crowded hours. Running ads through signage remains ideal as it remains a cost-effective method compared to traditional advertising.
• Showing interactive content to capture and retain attention.
  People have a low attention span and losing interest is common. Your thought-out promotional videos won’t survive if you only boast about your product collection and trending offers. Therefore, work on running interactive quizzes, contests, and animated slides for fresh, dynamic and engagement-driven content.
• Standing up for a cause.
  Whether you run promotional or interactive content, it connects with your products or services. However, many businesses take it up a notch by standing up for a cause that they are passionate about.
  For example, a shopping center in England partnered with Battersea, a home for cats and dogs, to start a #lookingforyou campaign.
  The home aimed at increasing adoptions and volunteers began by giving out brochures with a radio frequency tag. Every person who took the brochure would see a dog named Barley pop up on a digital sign throughout the center.

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The campaign remained highly influential in gaining engagement. Standing up for a cause you deeply believe in helps your audience understand you better and develop an emotional connection.

The importance and relevancy of the ads heavily impact the frequency. For example, running an enticing offer on your bestselling products will likely capture attention. It makes sense to run these ads more frequently than others; as you know, customers already love these products. Therefore, give more display time to ads with high relevancy to potential customers. 

Some other aspects impacting ad frequency are as follows:

• Screen’s distance from the viewer
  If the screen is installed far from the viewer, you can run ads multiple times to ensure it catches the audience’s attention.
• The crowd in the store.
  There’s no point running multiple ads in an empty or barely crowded store. Make it a point to increase ad frequency when you have enough people in the store. Therefore, schedule ads based on the timings with the maximum crowd.

As discussed earlier, digital signage must have the correct promotional and interactive content blend. Here are some key areas you can target while making your content strategy:

• Displaying more video content.
  Use short yet compelling videos as viewers interact better with videos than static images. You can showcase product demos, new product launches, production processes, different ways of styling your products, customer feedback, etc.
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  Raise awareness about existing products and their key benefits. Sometimes, users fail to notice products they like among a store’s hundreds of products. Display your best products on a digital screen to pique interest and initiate more action. Also, slip in the idea of visiting your social media pages, website, and newsletter subscription.

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• Keep your audience updated with news from your niche
  People love knowing about industry-specific information. Instead of boring them with the usual content, try going into specifics and monitor the engagement. You can also keep them updated with your business’ different locations.
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  Showcase images and videos from recent events and workshops. Businesses conducting events and workshops must share the experience through digital signage. These images and videos help build a connection with the audience beyond basic selling tactics. Moreover, it motivates people in your store to participate in the next event.
• Share the experience of past customers.
  People’s buying decision is drastically affected by what other customers say about a business. Therefore, share reviews from your website, social pages, or Yelp to build trust and garner engagement.

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• Answer frequently asked questions about your products.
  Go through user reviews and connect with your sales reps to identify FAQs related to your business. Answer these FAQs to help out customers who hesitate to ask any question.

Additional tip: along with informing about an upcoming event, give customers a chance of an exclusive entry to garner engagement.

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to create compelling content for digital signage. Platforms like Adobe and Canva have many templates suitable for diverse content creation. You can easily create posters, infographics, short videos, etc., without hassle.

For example, Rawshorts is a great free tool for creating animated videos. But if you are more inclined to develop presentations, go for PowerPoint.

You can also keep an eye out for digital signage providers who help in end-to-end service offerings, including creating content. Intelisa, besides having an in-built integration to Canva, also provides a great additional introductory package for customers by designing the right creatives and managing their creative library. This greatly eases the process of adopting the new digital signage channel and getting the best ROI through it.

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What if I don’t have time to create my own designs?
You can hire a graphic designer or display free stock content (images and videos). Many businesses go with purchasing compelling stock images too. Here are some of the best free and paid stock photography websites you can consider to get you started:

• Adobe Stock
• Pexels
• Pixabay
• Unsplash
• Shutterstock
• Getty Images
• Vecteezy
• Offset by Shutterstock (content from more experienced photographers)
• Fotolia

The placement of digital signage plays a crucial role in capturing the audience’s attention. It might seem straightforward, but it requires some thinking. Here are some areas to consider before placing your digital signages:

• What’s the general path taken by your customers to reach the location?
• Which areas have the highest amount of crowd during rush hours?
• Where do your customers spend time waiting around in the store?
• Is there any extra wall space that directly captures the audience’s attention?

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After going through these questions, here are some basic ideas for digital signage installation: 

• Interior walls for conveying broad messages.
  The most common place where we find digital signs are interior walls and supporting columns. They are fixed in an angle that directly faces the customers and targets broad messaging like 50% off on weekends.
• Aisled endcaps for targeted content.
  Smaller digital screen with highly specific content often gets placed at aisle endcaps. These screens convey information like exclusive offers, product demo videos, etc.
• To reduce the waiting time.
  You can install a digital screen with informative content at the checkout counter to reduce customer waiting time. Use the information obtained on waiting areas to ensure correct placement.
  Lastly, avoid focusing on filling in empty wall space and go forward with strategic signage placement.

Easy setup and installation remain a priority when considering digital signage software for your business.

For instance, Intelisa’s cloud-based software access ensures you get started within a few clicks. You can easily control it using your smartphone or computer. After getting started, you can easily integrate your social pages, create dynamic content with available templates, and offer a personalized experience.

Some other core areas that Intelisa provides to its users are as follows:

• A plug-and-play digital signage solution that is up and running in 5 minutes
• Allows easy display of all content types (images, videos, documents, and so on).
• Plays in offline mode which is great for places where internet connection is intermittent
• Ease of use ensures anyone with basic tech skills can operate it.
• Affordable subscription-based offerings provide convenience to businesses.
• Helps in increasing revenue with third-party advertising.
• Allows centralized monitoring to ensure you display relevant content that garners engagement.
• Social media integration to help you reuse online assets
• Many more advanced features to future proof your investment

The software you choose eventually decides the success of your campaigns. Therefore, ensure you go through all relevant features before choosing.